OCR Text |
Show 62 MR. O. THOMAS ON THE MAMMALS OF [Jan. 19, 14. Mus BOWERSI, Anders.1 a. 2- Machi, 8/5/81. There is nothing in Dr. Anderson's description of his Mus bowersi absolutely to prevent the present specimen belonging to it; but the differential characters of these Muridce, obvious enough on actual comparison, are often so difficult of description that I should not be suprised if the present were to turn out to be distinct from M. bowersi, especially as the figure of that animal is by no means identical with Mr. Hume's specimen, but is more similar to the species of the group to which M. germaini, M.-Edw., belongs. However, there can be no question that for the present the Manipur Rat should rather be referred to M. bowersi than be described as new. Dr. Anderson's type was obtained at Hotha, Yunnan, at an elevation of 4500 feet. 15. MUS BERDMOREI, Bly. a, b. KopumThall, 11/2/81. These two specimens agree so closely with Blyth's short description 2 that I have no hesitation in referring them to his species, even though Blyth himself afterwards placed M. berdmorei as a synonym of M. robustulus, Bly. ( = M. rattus rufescens, Gr.), and though the locality of Blyth's specimen, Mergui, Tenasserim, is so distant and has so different a fauna from Manipur. The following description, based on Mr. Hume's two skins, will serve to supplement the short and unsatisfactory one given by Blyth :- General colour clear slaty grey, the tips of some of the hairs brown and of others white, the mixture giving a very finely grizzled appearance to the back, in which no trace of yellow or fawn is present; chin, chest, and belly pure white. Ears outside brown, inside silvery; feet white ; tail bicolor, black above and white beneath for half its length, the terminal half white all round ; the tip not pencilled. Fur of only one sort, stiff and hispid, but with no trace of spines. Tail about the length of the head and body combined, or a little shorter. Ears large and evenly rounded ; fifth hind toe reaching to the middle of the first phalanx of the fourth. Foot-pads large and prominent. Skull with its facial portion unusually long, nasals long and narrow, surpassing in length the ascending premaxillary processes; supraorbital ridges well defined ; anterior plate of zygoma well developed, very convex forward. Palate very long, the interval between the back of the incisors and the molars very much longer than usual; palatine foramina rather short, terminating about 1mm. in front of m1; posterior nares opening at the level of the hinder edge of m3. Incisors pale yellow, lightening to white at their tips, directed 1 Zool. Yunn. Exp. p. 304, pi. xvii. (1878). 2 J.A.S.B. xx. p. 173(1852). |